Kankakee Times

Illinois State Rep. Thomas Bennett is condemning the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) for losing more than a million in tax funds to fraudsters.

In a May 24 Facebook post, Bennet shared a CBS 2 report announcing that IDES lost $1.2 million of taxpayer funds to fraudulent tax claims filed during the pandemic. 

"On January 10, CBS 2 filed an appeal with the Illinois Attorney General's Office, asking the agency to review IDES' denial for potential FOIA violations. That process revealed what IDES originally told CBS 2 wasn't true: the agency actually does track how much it has paid back claimants due to fraud."

As a result, on March 31 IDES was forced to send the data to CBS 2. It contains information on more than 1,000 tracers that were filed by claimants from January 2021 through March of this year. That's more than 1,000 times IDES paid people back, after they reported they never received their benefits."

"Records show Illinois Department of Employment Security lost $1.2 million in taxpayer money to fraudsters," Bennet wrote in his Facebook post.

In October 2021, Rep. Dan Caulkins sounded the alarm about IDES seemingly ignoring claimants who needed help, according to Chambana Sun. At that time, claimants were being told they would have to pay back benefits they'd been paid.

"They were able to quickly process fraudulent claims worth hundreds of millions, but couldn’t talk to those desperate for help," Caulkins posted on Twitter. "How did it happen? Let the sun shine in."

By February 2022, state leaders had identified more than 1 million affected by fraud through IDES, and while claimants were willing to talk to the media, IDES didn't want to chat, as reported by Illinois Policy.